GreenHunter Water LLC has begun to process complex oilfield waste streams at its bulk storage and barge transloading terminal in New Matamoras, OH, the GreenHunter Resources Inc. subsidiary said Friday.

At the facility, GreenHunter uses its Frac-Cycle service, which utilizes vibration separation and nano-filtration systems capable of processing up to 1,000 b/d of high-solids drilling fluids, pit water, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) flowback and produced oilfield water. The fluids typically contain 10-25% suspended solids content and are not suitable to dispose in salt water disposal wells, the company said. The technology separates the water from the solids, resulting in a reusable permeate that has been filtered to remove solids greater than 0.5 microns. The solids are then compressed into dry filter-cakes that eventually go to landfills.

Three new offloading stations and an additional 1,200 bbl of water storage holding tanks have recently been installed and are fully operational at the facility to accommodate an anticipated increase in fluid volumes, GreenHunter said. Existing building structures at the New Matamoras recycling center allow for expansion capabilities up to a total processing capacity of 5,000 b/d, and the company is completing design specifications to expand services to include a rolling stock tank cleaning operation, which would allow trucks that enter the facility with dirty water to leave with clean water.

A similar setup at GreenHunter’s planned water treatment, recycling and condensate handling logistics terminal in Wheeling, WV, could provide drillers in the Marcellus and Utica shale region with free recycled wastewater for fracking operations (see Shale Daily, May 29). Drillers that fill their trucks with recycled water on the same trip that they bring wastewater to the facility would receive discounts and would save enough money due to the facility’s location near their operations that the water would in some cases come to them at virtually no cost.

“…Due to the strategic location of the New Matamoras recycling facility in the heart of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, we are able to offer our recycling services (together with tank cleaning) at a greater discount to what operators would pay to truck, dehydrate and dispose the material using traditional avenues,” said John Jack, GreenHunter vice president in the Appalachian region “We already have in bulk storage approximately 30,000 barrels of fluids from our existing customers, which we have now begun to process.”

In February, dozens of protestors stormed GreenHunter facilities in New Matamoras, about 40 miles south of Wheeling, causing a six-hour disruption that ended peacefully but resulted in 10 arrests (see Shale Daily, Feb. 22). The unconventional oil and gas environmental services company said its employees were “held hostage” by the protesters during the incident.

GreenHunter’s plans for the fracking wastewater recycling facility in Wheeling have yet to be approved by the city. The Wheeling Planning Commission is schedule to take up the issue at its next meeting on July 8.